What We Have Been Forbidden
by JHLZ.NTL
Summary: After the events of Smoke and Shadow, Mai decides she needs distance...she knows she is a weakness of the new Fire Lord but also knows that she is not easily hurt. Her little brother, however, is vulnerable. So she takes Tom-Tom, and leaves everyone and everything behind her. It's great... for a time. But the past always has a funny way of ruining a perfectly good day.
1. Chapter 1

Image Credit: Lone Mai and Cub by DarrenGeers on DeviantArt

* * *

She tied him to her back when he got too tired to keep walking. Her legs cried under the weight of all her knives, her sword and then this extra body. But she needed to get out of the city, get away from her mother and her mother's ceaseless crying. She needed to get out of reach from Zuko and his guards and from Azula and her sisterhood of asylum escapees. She needed isolation and safety. She knew her mother could not protect her brother, so she made the decision to take him with her. Their mother was foolish. She had put too much faith in their power-hungry father who made themselves enemy of the Earth Kingdom while Governor of Omashu, and then enemies of the Fire Nation while heading the New Ozai Society and plotting to overthrow her ex-boyfriend. Then her mother put too much faith in the City Guard, spent too much time trusting they'd fix everything to notice that Azula had made away with Tom-Tom. She didn't know how to fight or fly, only how to weep and cry. She meant well, but was weak and ignorant. So Mai decided to take the reins.

They took a steamer to the Earth Kingdom, bought some new clothes, then walked for a day. The Earth Kingdom was the only place where they could walk and keep walking without running into ocean or water. They must have covered at least thirty five miles by the time the sun set. Tom-Tom had long been asleep. He walked for a good four hours before Mai had mercy and tied him to her back enabling them to pick up the pace. With darkness encroaching, she treaded deeper into the woods away from the road to make camp for the night and remain unseen. She gathered some brush for padding and then covered it with one of her spare robes to make a bed for Tom-Tom. She laid him down first and then stretched her back before setting off into the nearby surroundings to see if there was anything edible they could collect for their journey. They had enough water for three days, and enough preserved food for seven, but she didn't want to break into that store for anything other than a last resort. Finding edible vegetation was easy. If her formal studies taught her anything, it was how to identify poisonous plants and berries, and how to not be killed.

Despite her exhaustion, she found herself awake, watching her little brother sleep while sharpening her blades. She reflected on the texts she was forced to memorize and be able to regurgitate at any time until after the last edge on the last blade was sharp enough to peel a berry. The stowed the knife and her whetstone away, leaned her head on her spare robe, and wrapped her arms around her little brother protectively, and closed her eyes to sleep.

* * *

It was the fifth night. They had reached a small village sufficiently far from civilization for Mai to be satisfied, with a room cheap enough for them to rent for at least a month with the savings her mother gave them after realizing there was no way to stop her armed daughter from taking her son.

"You here to trade?" the innkeeper asked Mai curiously.

"No."

"Do you have a trade?"

"No."

"Then why, may I ask are you here, stranger?"

"I just need somewhere safe where I can protect my baby brother," Mai replied, lifting her gaze from her coin purse to the innkeeper.

He leaped back in surprise before he could ask why.

She raised a brow.

"Sorry, I just—never seen eyes quite like yours, miss. I don't mean to flirt they're just—"

"Completely normal where I come from," Mai replied, replacing the change in her purse. The people of the Earth Kingdom all had eyes of green in varying shades. She had forgotten how strange her tawny eyes must have seemed to the man with roots so deep, so far from the former colonies.

"Right," he replied suspiciously as he handed her the key to the room.

"Thank you," she said flatly, taking the key and turning away, feeling her baby brother stir in his wrappings.

She dropped their supplies on the floor and freed the boy from her back, then collapsed on the bed.

"Mai, I'm hungry!" Tom-Tom cried.

With a sigh, she found herself up again. She shed a few layers, grabbed her coin purse and his hand, and they went outside.

She kept her head down, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

It was bad enough having a stranger in town. Knowing they were former enemies would have only made things worse.

"Your options are lamb-cow, or chicken-pork," Mai said reading the sign above the meat stand.

"Chicken-pork!" Tom-Tom spouted cheerfully.

"Two please," Mai asked the vendor.

She watched her baby brother inhale his meal and then run around the town square for hours. She wanted nothing more than to retreat to their room and lock the doors, but knew the growing boy needed to expel his energy to sleep. He made friends with a couple of locals, kicked a ball around, and even got to try one of those yo-yo-toys on strings. Mai would make one for him, she decided. And while not letting him out of her sight, went to buy the supplies.

She would not let him miss out on life despite taking him out of the Fire Nation.

While he slept, she stayed up, carving the wooden piece into two inverted cones with a hollowed space in the middle for a rod to act as an axle. She carved his name into the inside of one of the cones, then got carried away stylizing it in a way she saw it written in a book one time. Soon enough the inside was completely covered in whittled calligraphy. She was exhausted but knew he would like the toy. Besides, it would help develop his hand-eye coordination. If he could roll the yo-yo like the other children, throw it, and catch it again, he might be able to throw a knife with some accuracy some day.

* * *

As expected, Tom-Tom rose with the sun. She wondered if it was a sign. If he would be a firebender and she wouldn't have to teach him knife-throwing or swordsmanship. She wondered if instead she would have to hide him from potential enemies, Earth Kingdom Nationalists who thought all Fire Nation deserved to be punished for the heinous crimes of their ancestors. She wondered if coming across the sea to hide from familiarity was all a mistake. She wondered if she would regret everything.

"Mai, you made it?" He asked finding the yo-yo, and the two sticks attached to each other by a string.

"So you wouldn't have to borrow," Mai replied, barely awake.

He crossed the room and threw his arms around her. "I love it! Thank you!" he exclaimed, practically suffocating her with his affection.

She hugged him back, and ran her fingers through his hair.

"I'm going to cut it this evening, after dinner," she warned him.

"Okay," he replied.

"May I get breakfast on my own? So you can sleep more? I'll come back with the food, so you don't have to worry! Everyone went to school so- so so so—I don't have anywhere else to go."

She pulled out three copper pieces and a three-pronged sai.

"For the food. And for anyone who tries to hurt you," she said, holding his hands tightly.

He nodded and unlocked the door and ran across the open square to the same meat vendor they met the previous day.

She tilted her head back but couldn't sleep. She had to watch him, to make sure he was okay. He was her everything.

* * *

_**A/N This takes place right after Smoke and Shadow. Right after Kei-Lo leaves aunt Mura's maybe for forever (maybe not). Mai knows that Zuko would protect her when Azula comes back to wreak havoc on the nation (now that she has decided her fate is to make Zuko a strong Fire Lord), but Mai doesn't need or want his protection. She is tired of war and fighting. She is tired of being a high-profile target. She doesn't want to be Zuko's weakness, and she doesn't want Tom-Tom to become hers.**_

_**She just wants peace and quiet, and for her baby brother to be safe. So she runs away to some remote village in the EK. **_

_**But the past always has a funny way of coming back to ruin a perfectly good day. **_

_**Pls pls please! All feedback is greatly appreciated. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Trigger warning. Two swear words in this chapter. **_

* * *

A month had passed. Tom-Tom went to school now, and Mai was working. She went by Niu here which simply meant "girl" in the local dialect, hoping they wouldn't be found by anyone she knew.

After school, she asked about his lessons, checked his homework, and taught him some of what made up her lessons when she was a young girl. She taught him about plants and herbs, teas and berries, poisons, and weaponry. She avoided Fire Nation History, wanting to spare him the bloody truth for as long as possible so that he could still have a childhood untainted by notions of Fire Nation Superiority. She wanted him to enjoy his youth.

* * *

Before long, Tom-Tom turned six years old, and Mai turned eighteen. To celebrate, Mai purchased a small plot of land and commissioned a two-room house on stilts, with a little fence around their land where they could grow vegetables and livestock. She ordered a lock box from a traveling smith and a new whetstone. They finally had a place with their own table, their own oven and stove, and their own water well.

She watched him struggle one evening with his homework.

"Would you like help?" she asked, glancing over his shoulder as she went about sweeping the day's dust out the front door.

"No thanks."

"It is almost bedtime, and you've been at it for hours. What is it about?"

"History."

"Oh, that's easy! It doesn't require logic—" Mai began to say.

"Easy? What do you know, you're just a woman!" Tom-Tom yelled, throwing his brush, splashing ink on the floor and the wall of their kitchen/dining space.

Mai froze.

"Mai—I'm sorry—"

"Pick up your brush," she ordered, leaning the broom against the wall beside the door.

He rushed. "Mai—"

"Replace it in the well."

He obeyed.

"Now go get the wash rag and clean up the ink…. Rinse out the rag…. Now take a seat."

He sat and looked up at her, terrified.

"You're going to tell me something, Tom-Tom. What do you think makes a man a man and a woman a woman?"

He gulped. "Men go to school and they study and women stay home and cook and clean and— care for the children?"

"Is that all?"

"Men can fight."

"And?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

"Do you think you're a man, Tom-Tom?" Mai asked.

He nodded.

"I want you to go to the lock box, open it and tell me what you find. You know the combination."

"But you told me not to."

"I know what I said. Do what I am saying now."

Tom-Tom rose from his seat and rushed into the bedroom and unlocked their safe. "A lot of knives."

"Whose knives are they?"

"Yours?"

"What do I do with my knives?"

"Nothing?" Tom-Tom guessed.

"You sure about that?"

"You make toys for me… and… decorate the house with carvings."

"They're weapons, Tom-Tom. I fight."

"But Master Zhuzheng says women aren't allowed to fight."

"Maybe not in the Earth Kingdom, but we are Fire Nation Tom-Tom. Now chose a weapon,"

"But—"

"You're going to show me just how much of a man you are. You are going to fight me."

Tom-Tom gulped. "What weapon will you use?"

"None. No weapon. I will never need one against you."

He chose the sword.

They went out into the dirt street and faced each other.

"In any duel, you bow first. Acknowledge your opponent. We are not heathens, we are civilized warriors. There is a code of honor you must follow. Most duels are to the death, but since you are my brother, I'll spare you. We agree on terms. Loser, forfeits their weapon. We will fight to the sit, meaning all you have to do is knock me off my feet. All I have to do, is take my weapon back from you. Do you understand?" Mai asked.

Tom-Tom nodded.

"Let us begin."

The brother and sister bowed to each other first, turned away, took three paces from each other then faced each other again.

Tom-Tom took a deep breath and charged while Mai stood still as stone with her arms relaxed at her sides. He intentionally missed, trying to scare her off her feet, but she stepped to the side, rose her hand under his wrists, breaking his insecure grip, and catching the one and a half meter long blade with one hand, turning it, and pointing it an inch from her little brother's back.

He tripped in surprise and fell on his behind.

"Your first mistake was choosing a weapon too long and heavy for your stature," Mai informed her brother as she lowered the blade. "Both men and women can cook, both can clean, and both can fight. The only difference is whether or not one has a cock or a cunt. I will teach you about that when you're older. In the meantime, don't repeat it to anyone. Right now, you are neither man nor woman - just a child. A child who must learn and earn the respect of others."

"How?"

"With knowledge and strength. You accept the fact that you know nothing- that you are nothing in this world, and feel okay."

Tom-Tom looked up at the blade, reflecting the moon in the flat of the imperial grade steel.

Mai lowered the sword and sheathed it. "I can train you in the ways of the blade, if you're interested."

"Will you?"

"We begin tomorrow. The answer to your history question can be found on the seventy ninth page of your text, about halfway down the page. Get some sleep. You'll need it if you're to be ready."

* * *

_A/N _

_As we all know, Mai doesn't talk... much. For her, actions speak louder than any words. And since they're in a peaceful remote village, Tom-Tom doesn't really 'see' the fight in her. _

_As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. All the negative, positive, constructive, or not is welcomed! Feel free to tear this apart. ))) _


	3. Chapter 3

Mai took a day off from working with the butcher to travel into the city for supplies. She purchased bandages, thread, needles, steel ingots, stained wood, a couple of different types of hammers, tongs, a stone forge to be delivered to their remote village by the end of the week.

_"__The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation or any one gender._ _Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all,"_ Piandao had explained to Michi when she found her six-year-old daughter had been secretly training with the revered sword master. Michi threatened to have her husband, governor of Shu Jing at the time, imprison the master under false charges of exploitation and child molestation as well as seizing all of his assets.

It was then they decided to send Mai to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls where she would learn to be a proper Fire Nation Lady. Unfortunately, Michi and Ukano were too late. She had already achieved mastery with the blade. When it came time to forge her own, she asked if she could make a dagger instead so that she could hide it from her family more easily.

Tom-Tom would do the same, Mai decided. He would forge his own blade once he reached mastery. He would forge a blade with the curvature, length, and weight that matched his needs, and his strengths perfectly.

As soon as Tom-Tom returned from school, Mai made him run to where their road ended and back. It was two miles one way and she stayed beside him every step of the way. "If I can, you can. We don't have to go at the same speed, but we both have to finish the whole thing," she explained as his energy began to wane. His arms and legs were beyond trembling by the time they returned.

"Tired—" He wheezed

"Good, now keep walking or you'll faint," Mai instructed, handing him a canteen.

His arms shook so badly, he spilled some of its contents over his face as he drank then cried over the waste once it was drained.

She wondered if it was rude of her to laugh at him, but she couldn't help it. "It's not the last drop on the earth," she chuckled, refilling the canteen before handing it back to him as he paced up and down the length of their home-front, waiting for him to cool down sufficiently for them to continue. They stretched next on bamboo mats on their patio to relieve the tension in the muscles post-run.

Mai made Tom-Tom hold a three different plank positions for a minute each, alternating, then had him do jump and agility exercises up and down the dirt road. It wasn't until after forty grueling minutes of that did she instruct him on how to do a proper front kick, roundhouse kick and way to punch things without breaking one's own fingers.

"I thought blade training would actually involve- I don't know, blades," Tom-Tom mused, holding her hand as he walked along the top of the fence surrounding their garden and grazing pastures where they raised goathogs and chickencows.

Mai looked up at his tired face. "Any blade is simply an extension of your body. Not a replacement or supplementary element. You cannot train to fight with a blade until you've mastery of your body. The best fighters know their own strengths and weaknesses, when to fight and when to flee. If you can't even flee, then you are no fighter at all. Just easy pickings." Mai drew a blade with her left hand and threw it, seemingly blindly into the grass. There was a cry of an animal. Tom-Tom stopped walking along the fence. Mai let go of his hand and went to inspect. She pulled the knife up, wiped it off on a leaf, then produced a hamstabbit. "Dinner?"

Tom-Tom took a deep breath and hopped off the fence. The brother and sister headed into the house for the evening, Tom-Tom to finish his homework, and Mai to prepare dinner for the two of them.

* * *

_A/N Sorry this chapter is short. It is just the start of some part of their new every-day routine:) _  
_As always, all feedback is greatly appreciated! *inserts hearts*_


	4. Chapter 4

_It was a nice,_ Mai thought to herself as she walked to work with the butcher in the village while Tom-Tom went to school. It felt good to be training again even if only at a quarter her usual intensity so that Tom-Tom could keep up without dying. They had a routine. School/work, running, stretching, conditioning, second stretch, forms every other day, sparring every other day, followed by a third stretching session. Every evening, Mai treated her little brother to a hot bath in their soaking tub to help his muscles recover from the abuse. He hadn't broken anything yet or suffered any actual strains, so Mai assumed they could keep going.

She herself didn't indulge in such luxuries as baths and the like, washing with a bucket of cold water, and a rag outside. All the best was reserved for her little brother as she continued to try to protect him from knowing the horrors of war.

Mai had just arrived at the butcher when that dark-haired, tattooed, black-lipped, white-painted lady rode into their small village on the back of a shirshu. The men in the square snarled while the women shielded their babies as the black-clad lady rider circled the water well on her mount.

"I'm looking for a bitch. One with dark hair, tawny eyes, sighs a lot, never smiles, never cries…" she announced cracking her whip.

"There!" one of the villagers yelled, pointing directly across the way to Mai.

"NIU!" the butcher turned to Mai. "What did you do?!" He knew she was quiet, strange, and foreign, but based her little brothers peaceful, cheerful disposition, had always assumed she was relatively well-mannered and polite, just reserved, and private. He assumed she was loving, kind, and law-abiding, just—in her own special way.

"Her name is Mai. _She's_ done nothing wrong that I know of. It's her father I have unfinished business with," the Stranger informed the crowd, cracking the whip in the dirt as she approached the butcher.

Mai shoved her employer aside and drew a set of stilettos, throwing them in the Stranger's direction. "He's not here!"

The bounty hunter sliced through the stilettos with a metal bit fixed to the end of her whip and continued advancing. "Oh, I'm well aware. Bastard got himself incarcerated for trying to overthrow your ex-boyfriend!"

"SHUT UP!" Mai grabbed her butcher's favorite chopper and the spool of cotton they used for tying the ostrichduck's feet together for braising and fashioned a weighted whip in an instant. She threw the blade end in the direction of the Stranger. The Stranger blocked the sharp edge from cutting her face with the leather gauntlets on her arms, but couldn't escape being ensnared anyways. Mai pulled the rider off her mount and slammed her in the dirt.

The rider sliced through the cotton chord as soon as she gained her footing again and cracked her whip once more. Before she could steal the butcher knife, Mai threw three of her standard throwing blades: one striking the butcher knife, sending it across the unpaved way, the second grazing the top of the stranger's hand, and the third, nearly grazing her face. Mai dove forward, evading another crack of the whip, but couldn't escape the third.

"Heh," the stranger smirked, tightening the cord around her target's neck.

"Heh," Mai replied with just the slightest smile that was enough to unnerve her opponent.

The Stranger looked down to find a blade touching her neck. "I could carve your throat out," Mai snarled, pulling at the back of the whip, trying to relieve the tension around her neck.

"I could pinch off the blood supply to your brain, or just decapitate you completely," the Stranger replied, giving the whip a firm tug. "But if you're dead how then would I get the money Michi guaranteed you'd give me?"

"My mother sent you?" Mai gasped before remembering her predicament and growling again.

They stood in a stalemate for what felt like an eternity while the villagers watched, breathlessly frozen in place, terrified by the rather unusual show of strength from two ladies. In this corner of the world, they'd only ever known women to fight each other with petty words and passive aggression.

In a blinding blur, a blade cut the through the whip and a knee collided with the Stranger's torso. Mai dropped her, flat on her back, knocking the air from the stranger's lungs and then watched, with total apathy as the Stranger fought to regain her breath. "Mr. Hu, I am afraid I must take the day off, to settle some debts of my father." Mai said, starting in the direction of her house.

June snarled, gathered up the remains of her whip and mounted her shirshu, following.

* * *

The Stranger dismounted the shirshu and crossed the threshold of the small yard outside the two-room house on stilts. She was surprised to find the daughter of a politician and a pompous bitch living in such… modest accommodations as she started up the stairs to the patio out front.

"I said I'd settle his debts. I didn't say I'd invite you in," Mai growled, blocking the doorway once the Stranger had made it up the steps.

Jun took one step down. "Alright. He owes 50,000 gold pieces."

"We don't have any gold." Mai stated firmly.

The stranger took one step up, standing practically nose to nose with the daughter of the disgraced former governor of Omashu.

"Then how do you propose to settle his debts?"

Mai only took a second. "I can work for you."

Jun laughed. "I'm a bounty hunter. I work alone."

"I know. I can do the hunting for you, and you collect the bounty."

"How do I know you won't just look up the names I give you, take them directly to the precinct and make off with the pot?"

"I know wealth and riches," Mai sighed impatiently glancing at the setting sun. "Trust me when I say I've no interest in it."

June's eyes narrowed as she tried to detect any sort of insincerity.

"If we decide to do this, I need some sort of collateral while you're off taking care of the hunt."

"How's this?" Mai asked, grabbing her samurai blade that lived leaning against the wall just inside the front door. With one forceful swing, she threw the sheath from it, back into the house, and lifted the blade, shining the sun into the Stranger's face. "The steel core is probably worth 1,000 gold pieces, and the gold of the handle could probably make 2,000 gold pieces, and the titanium coating 1500 gold pieces. Enough to be collateral against six average catches."

The Stranger considered the offer, but before she could make a decision, was interrupted by the high voice of a young boy.

"Mai-yeo!" Tom-Tom yelled, running up the walkway to their house. Mr Zhengzhu gave us two-extra days to do our assignment so—, Oh! Hello!" he noticed the stranger on their steps.

June looked down at the small, energetic boy then up at June. "Your son?"

"Brother," Mai answered, glaring down at Tom-Tom for drawing attention to himself.

"He'll do," June said, snatching the samurai blade and the brother, holding the sharp edge to the boy's throat. "Your first assignment is a pirate by the name of Han Meng. Last seen somewhere near Chameleon Bay, has a tattoo the shape of a snake winding up his spine. Bring him here by the end of the month and I'll give you credit for a fifth of your father's debt."

Mai's face contorted with a fury Tom-Tom had never seen before. She dove off of the patio straight over her brother's head, clasping her hands around the stranger's neck. "Tom-Tom, inside, NOW! And you- Don't you DARE lay hand on my little brother or I WILL kill you like I should have killed the first person who tried to take him."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," the stranger said calmly. She whistled and in an instant, Nala the shirshu came running. The beast struck the side of Mai's face with her tongue, paralyzing the knife-wielding, fire nation lady. "But keep in mind you're in no position to bargain. If you don't pay off Ukano's debt, I will kill you. Then what will this kid do on his own?" the Stranger asked.

Tom Tom charged at the Stranger with one of Mai's knives. She stepped aside, evading the blade and snatching him up by the scruff of his shirt.

"HEY!"

"Nice try, Kid, but your steps were too heavy. I could predict every move you intended to make before you made it. We'll have to work on that while your dear sister is away, won't we?"

"This deal is supposed to be between you and me, leave Tom-Tom out of it."

"Ah, but this isn't the Fire Nation, now is it. There are no duels or agni kais, no agreements, no rules when we fight. Besides, you are in no position to bargain now with Nala here. The poison should wear off by morning. Leave then and don't return until you have that guy."

The stranger set Tom Tom down and faced him. "As for you, if I recall correctly, a Mr. Zhengzhu gave you two more days to do your assignment, correct?"

Tom tom nodded nervously. "Then go on, don't waste it."

Mai watched as the bounty hunter took her brother by the shoulder and ushered him into the house. She sat the boy at the kitchen table with his school materials and then returned to the doorway to watch Mai's futile efforts to overcome the poison in her body.

"If you're going to be staying for a while, Ma'am, may I at least know your name?" Tom Tom asked politely.

The stranger looked over her shoulder and smiled at the boy. "June."

* * *

_A/N Thank you all for the reviews! I hope you continue to enjoy this story. For this chapter, I commissioned a drawing from AATKAW that will be posted on my tumblr: 99nzhedottumblrdotcom sometime soon. :))) _

_As always, all feedback, good, bad, constructive, or not, is greatly appreciated! *Inserts Hearts*_

_(ps, I am loving that you call Mai Sensei XD)_


	5. Chapter 5

Mai returned after only a couple days with half her face and her entire sleeve caked with blood, dust, and leaves among other things and threw the pirate at June's feet.

Tom Tom gasped in terror and rushed over to her aid.

"Any casualties?" June asked tearing open the back of the pirate's shirt to check for tattoos and other identifying scars and marks.

"Nope."

"You didn't think to bathe on your way?.

"And let him see me naked? No," Mai answered, retreating to her house.

"You could have blindfolded him."

"Even shadows can be violating," Mai replied, wrapping her arms around Tom Tom.

"Mai-yo, are you okay?" Tom Tom whispered, searching his sister's arms and legs for wounds, hesitating when he realized the only place left to look was under her clothes.

"Blood isn't mine, Tom, so don't worry," Mai reassured him, ruffling his hair.

"I was so worried about you."

"Don't be. I can handle myself. You worry about you," Mai ordered tapping his nose.

With a thud, June chucked the pirate over the shirshu's saddle before jumping on and taking off. "See you in three days!"

Mai glared at her as she went away.

"Will you bathe now that you're safe?" Tom Tom asked curiously, looking up at his big sister with those wide innocent eyes.

"Do I smell?"

"Like death."

Mai flashed a smile. "I smell like dried blood. Death is different. More pungent and acidic. If you're lucky, you'll never know it."

…

The house was… different—more… cluttered.

Mai turned to her brother for an explanation. "Well, June bought us a new pot when she found ours was dented. Said that food would collect in the dents and it would be harder to clean and then it would mold and the mold would turn into poison, so she replaced it before she started cooking. And I told her I wasn't allowed to touch the forge because I am not a master yet, so she didn't let me help, only watch—but these blades and extra ingots are hers, but she forgot to get the wood for the handles, so they're naked for now and- She likes your wall engravings and carved this square behind the cabinet to leave her mark on our place, as a testament to beating you, but somewhere we don't look often because, she says she's not a total asshole and that is why it is hidden—and she got a second soaking tub—and those spouts are connected to a water heater she installed in the back of the house so we don't have to boil one pot at a time on the stove and—"

"How did she have the money for this?" Mai interjected.

"She kept hunting while you were away catching the pirate."

"She left you alone to keep working? Didn't she worry you would run to me?"

"I asked her the same thing. She told me I seemed responsible enough to not burn the house down and that she knew I couldn't go anywhere because I had to turn in my project on Thursday."

"Hm. And she cooked for you?"

"Mhm! And she makes a mean ragu. Maybe one night when we're all here, you can try it too!" Tom Tom said. After a moment of stunned silence, Tom Tom spoke again. "I should get back to the homework. June says I should study so that I'm not left with no choice but to fight people for my food. She says it's a rather tiring life."

"In that, she couldn't be more right," Mai responded pensively. As much as June was a pain in the ass that first day, she didn't seem to be all that bad.


	6. Chapter 6

June rode in to find the house empty, but the door left open. She helped Nyla into the back stretch of land they owned and inspected for any sign of a struggle or hasty abandonment. There was none. The samurai sword still stood propped up against the wall just inside the front door, blades still sat on the cabinet in the kitchen/dining area and both soaking tubs were still in the bedroom. They didn't abandon the place so—where were they?

Just then she heard the unmistakable sound of Tom-Tom panting after a run. There was a certain rhythm to it. It was the rhythm of breath of a high-born boy who grew up with no real hardship and didn't yet know how to breathe properly. While it wasn't uncommon in the world, it _was_ rare in this part of the Earth Kingdom and definitely noticeable. She ran out to find Tom-Tom leaping over the gate ahead of his sister whose breath and steps were identical to each other in their silence like those of a trained warrior.

"I told you I saw Nyla on the horizon, but you didn't believe me!" Tom-Tom yelled, running up the path and steps to grab June's arm and drag her down to the dirt with him.

"Is that why you sprinted back? Did you miss her?" Mai inquired quizzically, leaning for a fraction of a second on the fence before deciding against any show of tiredness in the company of their rather imposing debt collector. "Or just her ragu?"

Tom-Tom ignored her aside. "Join us June!" He begged. "Mai-yo can she? PLEASE PLEASE!"

June's heart skipped just barely inside but she was quick to suppress any sign of it. She would never admit it, but she cared for the boy and enjoyed his enthusiasm greatly. And for his sake, she didn't want to offend this Fire Nation sister into thinking she'd steal her him. He was like a window into a life she might live one day, one without fighting, and instead just living, learning and loving. Most of the time she found the peace rather annoying, but sometimes…. Rather sweet.

"Only if June consents to complete obedience for the remainder of the training session" Mai decided. "While I could not stop her from taking our house, I will not let her take my training ground," Mai offered.

Tom-Tom's breath hitched in his throat as he looked up at June with a fear that she might back out—or send Mai away on another mission immediately.

But June smiled and ruffled his hair and whispered to him, "You shouldn't let her scare you so much." She raised her gaze to Mai. "If the child wants me to partake in your _little training_, I will even if you require complete obedience from your pupils." June said, removing her repaired whip from the clip on her belt and casting her heavy boots shoes aside in favor of more flexible sandals that wouldn't hurt an opponent as much in the event they started sparring. She maintained eye contact with the knife thrower as she descended the steps from the patio to the walkway with Tom Tom clinging to her arm.

"Tom-Tom release your fellow pupil. Get back to work, you know the drill. Lead the cooldown for June, will you?"

"First we stretch after running—but Mai-yeo! Won't it hurt if June stretches cold?" Tom Tom asked as he slid down into an almost-side split.

Without missing a beat, Mai answered, "June is special; cold is her natural body temperature. Don't worry about her hurting."

Skeptical Tom Tom turned to June.

"She's right." June verified, playing along. "My blood is like ice; it's colder than the fiercest winds of the Northern Tundra and still, _I'm fine_," June added, effortlessly dropping into a split as if she were casually sitting down for a cup of tea.

Too confused to respond, Tom-Tom started counting down from sixty before changing positions, June following.

The Bounty Hunter looked up to Mai to find her scowling. _Only I can mess with my little brother!_ Her eyes claimed.

_Alright, but I can be the fun Auntie! _June thought, smirking.


	7. Chapter 7

June made no hurry to send Mai off again on another assignment. Instead, she took her own coin purse and went into town leaving Nyla in the pasture behind the house.

"Where is she going?" Mai asked suspiciously, watching her walk down the dirt road.

"To get ingredients for her ragu!" Tom Tom answered from the table where he was working on his literature assignment from school.

"Hmph."

…

"Mai, feather this thing for me," June called from the kitchen, brandishing a dead pig chicken by its broken neck.

"Excuse me?"

"Until your father's debt is paid, consider every demand another assignment," June ordered.

"This wasn't part of the deal," Mai growled, snatching the bird from the bounty hunter's hand rolling her eyes with annoyance. "I catch deadmen walking and you get the monetary reward."

"Just feather the beast. Let Tom Tom enjoying his ragu be reward enough for both of us."

Mai turned to Tom Tom who had a somewhat timid expression on his face as if he expected more protest or potentially a fight. Then she turned to June who began dicing potatoes and carrots for the ragu. She cared about Mai's little brother too.

…

At first they tolerated each other's presence for Tom Tom's sake, but it grew. They began to share the same desire to shield the young boy from the horrors of the world outside their little village. They met up on the outskirts of town for the exchange the wanted men and women for bounty and bathed in the river before returning home. Tom Tom didn't need to see the blood of their dirty work.

"I almost regret returning in such a state the first time," Mai confessed one night as they both rode back on Nyla.

"Don't. It needed to be done. Keep him too sheltered, and he'll grow weak," June reassured her. "For what it is worth, I think it was good for him to also see your devotion to family. He's lucky to have you—to have someone who cared so deeply for his safety and wellbeing."

"Did you ever have any siblings?" Mai asked.

June looked down, hesitating before giving an answer. She bit her lip. "Do kitchen rats count?"

"No."

"I never had siblings… or knew my parents. My earliest memories are of a kitchen floor. And not the nice kind. The cook stomped on a rat right before my eyes, kicked it aside, and went to pull some pastries out of an oven."

"How long were you there?"

"I don't know. Maybe I was dropped from a height and hit my head some time after… Sections… whole ages are blank."

"Or they were just so traumatic your subconscious blacked them out," Mai suggested. "What motivated you to start bounty hunting?"

"I killed a man when I was twelve. A bounty was placed on me. I saw a poster for someone worth more and made a deal with the magistrate. I'd give him all the men he wanted if he'd clear my name. I was good at fighting."

"Why did you kill him?"

"He hurt me. And I thought that if I killed him, I could prevent him from hurting others in the same way."

Mai looked down. The Avatar had always said that killing was never the answer, but Mai knew, some things—some people… could never change… and killing… killing _them_ was a mercy to the world.

They climbed into opposite sides of the bed, flanking a sleeping Tom Tom. Mai gently moved the hair out of his little face, closely examining his smooth skin, round cheeks, small nose, full lips. I will protect you. She whispered to his dreaming figure.

"Mai," June whispered, laying on her back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yes?"

"I want to—I want to protect both of you… If you let me, consider your father's debt paid,"

"Isn't that just extra work for you? To hunt and protect our home?"

"Seeing the way you look at Tom Tom… and seeing you both safe and happy… is worth more than all the gold in the world."


	8. Chapter 8

The first time he came riding in on an ostrich horse, he thought a cone hat would be enough to hide his identity. Just a glimpse of that molten flesh was enough for Mai to know who he was from a mile away.

"Fuck!" Mai cursed, lopping off the head of a pigchicken with a little extra vigor. "Forgive me, Mr. Hu. I am going to have to take the rest of the day off."

The Butcher furrowed his brow with concern as he watched Mai take off her apron and hang it on the peg behind her. "Mai, is everything alright?" He asked using her real name after he learned it from June.

"If anyone come's asking… and they will. It is Niu." Mai clarified, glancing at the riders on the other side of the marketplace.

"Someone else from your past?" he asked with understanding.

Mai looked up at the ceiling of the ramshackle place. "Yeah." She sighed, slipping out the back door.

She found Jun on the new deck in the back of their house, weaving a new whip.

"It's shorter than your other ones," Mai commented, sitting beside the bounty hunter, noting the tip coming together.

"It's for Tom-Tom," Jun explained holding the knot up to her eye to see if the leather needed any adjusting. "I think he's ready for it. If you're okay with me training him in this…"

"Of course, mastery of any tool is just another asset," Mai replied, setting a cup of tea beside June, taking a sip of her own.

"You're home early."

Mai looked out on the fields that they owned, at the grazing cows taking in the afternoon sun. Her hands were shaking.

June set down the whip and took Mai's hands in hers. "What happened?" She asked touching the Fire Nation Woman's face. "You're scared… and you're never scared."

Mai smiled. "You know that's not true."

"Fine. You never show you are scared. What happened?" June brushed Mai's bangs, evening them again the way the knife thrower always preferred.

"I saw my ex-boyfriend in the square today. Zuko. You remember him, right? With his scar?"

"Yeah vaguely. Hired me to help him find some water tribe chick once, and then again with a smelly sandal looking for his uncle Fatso—the perv."

"Iroh's not a perv—" Mai laughed, though pained.

"Do you think he's looking for you?"

"I can't think of anything else would bring him all the way out here."

"He's the Fire Lord now shouldn't he be busy?"

"Yes, but…" Mai stopped.

June waited. "But?"

"He's eighteen years old now… and the only person left in the Royal Family with a right to rule." Mai answered. "Ozai's been stripped of his bending, disgraced and imprisoned for his crimes against humanity. Ursa, his mother, has no Royal Blood, though beloved by the commoners, there's no way the conservative local governors would listen to her. Kiyi's the equivalent of a bastard in the eyes of the state and apparently Uncle Iroh forfeited his citizenship for the right to own and operate a tea shop in Ba Sing Se. The only reason I can see for him to come out here is that the Fire Sages are pressuring him to marry. He needs an heir in case—spirits forbid he gets killed or otherwise incapacitated."

June blinked. "Incapacitated?"

"Debilitated…. Handicapped… crippled…"

"Ah! You fucking nobles and your fancy words," June tried to laugh, in an attempt to be reassuring. They found their heads touching.

"I don't want to go back."

"And you shouldn't have to," June reminded her.

They were about to kiss when a knock rapped on the door of their house.

"I'll get it. You hide. And… let your hair down. We'll be fine, June promised with a smile.

Mai let out a sigh and pulled the tie out of the bun at the base of her neck.

"June!" Zuko exclaimed with a sigh of relief as if he were meeting an old friend. "Long time no see! How have you been? I know its been years…. Um…. Are you still collecting bounties?"

June shifted her weight onto her left leg and leaned on the doorway, hand on her hip, glaring. "Not often. I've settled down, started a family, we only need to work when necessary. Shit's great."

"That's—wow so good to hear! I—congratulations! Um. Is anyone home now? May I come in?" Zuko asked taking a step towards her.

"No!" June said firmly, folding her arms, remembering the Fire Nation-forged imperial grade samurai blade they kept leaning against the wall just inside the doorway. It would have been recognized instantly as Mai's. "I mean—the house is messy, not fit for guests of your stature." June insisted, silently cursing herself for her language. 'guest of your stature'… even Mai's speech patterns were rubbing off on the bounty hunter.

Zuko noticed it too but shook his head.

June relaxed her shoulders a bit. "We're out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. We can talk here, and no one will know."

Zuko took a deep breath. "Alright," He sighed. "I need your help finding someone."

June narrowed her eyes.

"But I don't want her killed… I just—need to talk to her about something. It's really important and I—"

"Who?"

"Mai Hatsuharu. Daughter of Michi and Ukano. She was my ex-girlfriend and—"

"I thought that water tribe chick was your ex-girlfriend," June jabbed trying to distract him.

"Ugh! No! Besides! She's dating the Avatar! Jeez!" He exclaimed looking away, pouting like a petulant child.

"How long has this—Hatsuharu girl been missing? Is she a fugitive or something?"

"No—she left because—Her aunt Mura said she ran away because she was tired of fighting. Though the hundred year war is over… the Fire Nation is still in shambles."

"Then why the fuck are you on my doorstep in the middle of fucking nowhere and not fixing it, _Fire Lord_ Zuko?" June asked mockingly.

Zuko's shoulders slumped in shame and agony, his pride crippled for the time being. "Because… I can't do it alone… not anymore," he admitted. "I need Mai beside me."

June looked down at Zuko's miserable ass standing there on the porch. What a pitiful excuse of a Fire Lord...

* * *

_A/N Hihi! Long time no see! Hope you've all been well, safe, and healthy! As always, all feedback is greatly appreciated. Hope you're enjoying this story! _


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